I saw a comment post on gcaptain that sparked my interest. It said “Time to bring back the Q ships”. While the entire world now engages in discussing how to stop piracy, I took a moment to research this, as I did not recall what exactly the Q ships were. Q ships where heavily armed merchant ships used in WWI and WWII with concealed weaponry that were designed to lure enemy subs into engaging them in a surface attack. Essentially decoy ships.

Here is the latest directly from Maersk:

Maersk Alabama Situation: 0600 EDT Update

Norfolk, Va., 9 April 2009: The current situation involving the Maersk Alabama has remained much the same throughout the night. The ship’s crewmembers have been accounted for and are safely aboard the vessel. However, the ship’s captain remains in the custody of the pirates, who departed in one of the ship’s encapsulated life boats on April 8.

The U.S. flagged M/V Maersk Alabama has been hijacked by pirates approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) northeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. The ship reportedly has 21 U.S. citizens aboard and is the first U.S. flagged vessel to be hijacked by Somali pirates.

Reports indicate that at least 5 ships were captured this weekend alone off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean. The end of the monsoon season has arrived, and pirates are learning that attacks can still be very successful, further offshore, away from naval patrols and in what was previously thought of as [...]

The Somali pirates are at it again, apparently taking advantage of good weather, and lackluster protection provided by international naval forces.  In the past 2 days, two European owned tankers have been seized by Somali pirates. AFP provides the following details – The Maritime Security Centre run by the EU naval force said that the [...]